Igai Shouri
Igai Shouri (lit, Japanease for Surprising Success, 意表勝) is the personal Fraccion of the Espada member: Szayel Aporro Granz. Used as a personal assistant in the labs, as well as being his most successful experiment yet. Her master has many more dark intentions for her. Her body is the merged state of two Arrancar caused by the many experiments implamented by her creator. Her body itself that of an Arrancar, while the other half; which she calls: Gyagu (lit, Joker, 冗談). This 'other half' is mixed with Igai's own body, and can not be seperated. Gyagu's form varies; but he primarily functions as the pseudo-Zanpakuto for Igai. Appearance Igai is a young woman of petite form, flat breasted and plain to look upon. Faded pink hair, similiar in fashion to the way Szayel's is styled. Igai is commonly seen in one of two garbs. The primary garb being a simple old fashioned black dress, featuring a white button collar, as well as her cuffs being similiar. The hem of the dress features several white diamonds as a pattern. Knee high ivory stockings, with simple black boots. Her Arrancar mask is hidden underneath the collar. While her Hollow Hole is located on her solar plexus. Focusing on simplicity, Igai does not like appearing showy as to attract attention from unwanted eyes. Keeping her appearance refined and as professional as she can. The coloration of her garb contrats that of what most Arrancar would wear, as the primary color of her dress is black. This attributes to her fear, her desire to not become what she is most afraid of, the first step against that is not dress like they do. Rarely wearing any additional appearal, Igai has been known from time to time to wear a bow in her hair, or tie it up in a ponytail, but little else has been noticed. Stuck in most of her ways, Igai figures herself blessed with the factor that she does not appear overly 'feminine', seeing this as a weakness as it gains unwanted attention and even more so to the fact that people would stare at her more. Figuring bigger 'assets' to make you a larger target above the waist, and longer hair to be an easy means to be grabbed in dirty hand to hand combat. Walking with an air of fear and caution, jittery and keeping her gait at a steady even pace. Igai tends to either talk with Gyagu in these moments to keep her fears at bay, or staying in total silence as to not 'jinx' anything. Standing upright, Igai keeps her eyes forward on her destination, taking only brief glances around her to check her surrondings for any would be stalkers. With the other garb, more combat oriented; the collar seems to extend downward, forming several plates. Plates grabbing her sides, protecting the ribs as well. The cuffs also seem to be larger in size. Much more refined in battle, Igai loses her fear of being harmed, in the fact that physical pain does not elict a reaction from her, as she designed to not feel such. Making her a deadly tool in combat. Igai however does not know her limits, and is irritated (in much similiar fashion to Szayel) when her clothes are torn or ripped, hating looking 'unprofessional' and like a weakling to others. Gyagu; Igai's psuedo-Zanpakuto, as well as her conjoined soul partner, takes the form of an overly large Hollow. Mostly comprising the base form of Igai's dress, Gyagu can however take many forms to aid himself and his wielder. The forms of multiple blades can made into his physical form. One of them appearing as regular Katana, the hilt consumed by wrapping, with a double hilt for added protection, the blade a pure black. The second weapon form Gyagu can take appears as a large rectangluar shaped blade, pure black outline with a white detail going down. Wrapping on the hilt and above the hilt several inches, a jagged mouth forms directly above the wielder's hand. Without weapon form; when taking the physical conjoined body, Gyagu appears as his past Hollow self. Featuring deep black skin, much like a Menos Hollow would; an 'X' forms across the middle of his face, with two large cartoony looking eyes on either side of the 'X'. This comprises his Hollow mask. Personality The primary positive traits that Igai displays are: Caution, humility, and obedience. Her negative traits being: paranoia, numbness, fear, and erratic. Being cautious for the entirety of her eight years of living, Igai has been self taught to do such in order to survive in the dangers of Las Noches and Hueco Mundo. As well as being able to avoid the much more dangerous members of the Espada that would wish any types of ill, usually sticking to her definition of the 'lesser evil'; that being Szayel. Humble to a strong point, Igai tends to keep quiet and unquestioning when it comes to affairs that are not focused to her directly. Primarily chooseing this route in order to 'life to fight another day', Igai has no qualms with the easier road. Immensely obedient to her master, Igai makes little effort, if ever any at all to state her discontent with duties. Albeit, she does so quietly and without question, she does no effort to kiss up to anyone, as she feels no need to. Paranoid, Igai has a consistant worry that others are out to get her, and with the many experiments done on her, one of the flaws of this many tests, is that Igai has grown used to hearing voices, patterns, and barely audible (but nonexistant) sounds. This has lead her to be quite on edge most of the time, causing her to be very erratic and jumpy when others might yell at her or speak directly to her so suddenly. This paranoia also causes her to extremely distrust most of the Espada. Numbed to pain and most other positive emotions, Igai is confused when these emotions are displayed or brought into sight, as she can not function under their influence. Fearful only to death, The Espada, and to the whispering voices, Igai seeks comfort in her symbiotic psuedo-Zanpakuto. Igai does have goals in her life, thanks to the influence of Gyagu. Wanting to learn more, and gain more power, Igai has done all she can to learn about each and every thing she can from Szayel's mad experiments and him as well. That being most of the reason as to why she handles what she does with such humility. Hoping that this knowledge and power can be used to silence the voices, as well as no longer be afraid. Her attitudes around each individual Espada varies; but whatever the circumstance, she does her best to spend as much time as she can, avoiding them. Towards the more violent and aggresive members, such as Grimmjow, Igai chooses to remain purely silent and not agitate the already hot tempered pussy cat. With the more silent or serious members like Ulquoirra, she will usually find some unsettlingness in his cold stoic gaze. However, she also finds comfort in his power, and has been shown to respond positively to this single Espada. To members of the Espada like Aaroniero, Barragan, and Tier, she finds slight disgust and weakness in. Aaroniero for his unending hunger, but no way to gain perfection, he is merely a self consuming black hole, powerless without fuel. Barragan, she finds weakness in the fact that he was defeated by Aizen and subgutated to his rule. Shouldn't a King never submit? Shouldn't a King fight to the death? Unless he is afraid, and weak, then he was never truly such. To Tier, she finds weakness in her inability to take control, simply acting as another puppet, dancing on strings of a marionette: a vanguard. Igai sees the world much more vividly then others might, paying attention to each and every detail of the events that goes on. And due to her duties, Igai is knowledge of many events and ongoings of Las Noches, making her an important tool to Szayel. Background Igai has lived a very short life; limited to eight years of total existance. Being created with the genes from Szayel's own being, he had intended for this new creation to be the next evolutionary step that his body would be able to occupy. Albeit, this failed in mulitple ways. The genes he had experimented on, as well as his own essence, merged differently then planned, creating an alternate being. Despite having a similiar spiritual signature, the Arrancar laying on the table was not truly compatible with his soul, preventing any ideas of transfer. With the failure, Szayel considered scrapping the project, but decided against it, figuring it would have it's uses. Giving it sentience and it's own soul, the being fused considerably well with the two additions. Coming to life on the table, Igai would never know of the intent of her creation, rather then for the enjoyment of Szayel. Focusing her life on working for the man who gave her existance, Igai had a singular purpose. Upon reaching the age of four, Igai had been chosen as Szayel's perfect canidate to be for the remainder of his more dangerous experiments. With his great surprise, the creation survived both the Physical Augmentation Device surgery, as well as the Wavelength Defibrillator surgery, making Igai significantly more powerful. This also however; induced the voices that Igai began to hear, the source of them being unknown to even Szayel. Now that her soul was merged with Gyagu, she was much less lonely in her daily life. Despite being two beings in a single body, the two were found to be quite capable of an easy life, as Gyagu could merge completely with his host's body, or take various forms as to not make Igai appear freakish (I.E: Zanpakuto). In the more recent years of her life, Igai has been trained more and more by Szayel, teaching her various techniques, and training her in the lab, making her his personal and favored Fraccion. Synopsis First Chapter: Recruitment (Brief Appearance) Scouting Gone Wrong: Sands of Despair Abilities *'Chaotic Spiritual Energy': Due to having the soul of two beings merged together, Igai has two entirely different spiritual signatures. Each melded together the best it can, they however, fluctuate quite consistantly, like two bodies fighting off a virus they think is infecting it. Despite this, Igai has qualmed this to where it deals her no harm, and utilizes the large pools of energy for her own use. The total danger of Igai's shared spiritual pressure is currently unknown, albeit, Szayel's observations have him pinning her somewhere in the #11-21 Arrancar's power levels, just below the Espada's. The spiritual signature of Igai is currently unknown; but to others that can sense signatures by their nature: Igai would be felt/seen as a Pulse/Hollow. The energy is represented as a black color, with deep purple edges. *'Moderate Sonido': Being able to move at speeds at high levels, Igai uses this only in combat or when in a rush to certain location. Allowing her the speed she needs in battle to keep on the move and evade attacks. Igai focuses more on defense and offense, utilizing her static sounding 'flashstep' to draw enemies into her range, or into a pre-determined trap. Making her very formidible on the field of battle, Igai shows no remorse when using her speed to augment her brute strength. *'Regenerative Hierro': Along with the passive steel skin defense, Igai has another catch to it. Much like her master. Enabling her to take on many blows repeatedly, over and over. Not being the strongest Hierro, it however, does not need to be. After an experiment that Szayel commenced on her, adding the regenerative properties of a Hollow's self healing. This property was then transmitted into her natural Hierro, allowing it to reinforce and regenerate itself if damaged, giving her a much stronger natural defense. With this ability, Igai can ignore her limits and take on opponent's that might be far more dangerous then she is. *'Melee Specialist': Fighting one on one with her foe, is something all Arrancar must learn, and it comes naturally to them. However, Igai has taught herself how to fight several enemies at once with utmost ease. With the natural ability to grow additional arms/legs/and wings, Igai can use these additional limbs to form Gyagu into several Zanpakuto forms, giving her a much more wild and aggresive defense/offense. Taking on multiple groups in melee combats becomes childplay for her, as she can use these new limbs to barrage or block her foe's incoming attacks. *'Master Swordsman': Along with this, Igai has mastered the art of Zanjutsu. Using it to it's pinnacle, Igai can use her powerful weapon to take on her opponent in heated close combat. Focusing on strength and surprise, she can cleave through her enemies in a matter of moments if given the opportunity. Repeatedly and emotionlessly Igai presses on her opponents, not stopping until they break into her onslaught, or devise plans to escape the barrage. Creating swathes and deadly swings of her blades, she can use her brute force to slice through a foe and his defenses in a single strike. Displaying this by slicing up several Hollows for Szayel to display her newly found strength. This is also due in part to her Defibrillator. The best Igai has displayed her swordsmanship has been when training with Szayel personally. Igai also wishes to practice with Ulquiorra. *'Garganta: '''Having the natural ability of ever Hollow to open up a gateway through the dimensions of time and space, Igai can use this to travel inbetween the spiritual dimensions. Being taught to her personally by Szayel, Igai has learned to control the runed booby traps witin Las Noches that can active their psuedo-Garganta effects. *'Hyper Regeneration: Due in part to Szayel's experiments, Igai has had her body's natural cells augmented to cause them to hyper accelerate. This keeps her regenerative cells on hyperdrive, forcing them to consistantly heal and repair any damage that is done to their host's body. And if weakened, Igai can draw upon her spiritual energy to further increase the rate of healing at which her regeneration can go. Able to heal wounds quickly, instantly restoring any damage that otherwise might be lethal to her. Along with this; Szayel made sure to increase the regenerative rates of the internal body of Igai, making sure none of his hard work goes to waste. Allowing her to heal any internal organs that might be damaged. However; this can only do so often, as it draws upon large reserves of both beings energy, nearly depleting her full amount. *'''Wavelength Defibrillator: When in dire need; Igai can consume the device created by Szayel. The device grants the user the ability to break beyond the limits that they are naturally blocked by. Prohibiting them from growing stronger, faster, smarter, and healing faster. Not dying to it, like all the other experiments did, Igai has kept many of the properties of the device. However, she can only trigger the fullest of it's effects for up to it's duration: 2-3 hours. *'Pressure Feedback': Another ability given to her by Szayel, derived from his Soul Repelling device. Szayel figured a way to hotwire such a frequency into the very being of a soul. And this soul was Igai. Albeit; it functioned differently then his device did. Still retaining the ability to repel beings that don't share her soul's wavelength, it now also comes with the ability to be able to resist any manipulations or control over her being that people might attempt to use. (EX: Illusions, controlling her body, etc) Giving her resistance to such techniques a backlash, dealing significant damage to anyone's mind that attempts to do so. *'Body Augmenting': The second experiment ever concieved on Igai, it is also one of the reasons she is considerably more powerful then the average Fraccion. Allowing her to grow appendages, such as additional arms, legs, and wings whenever desired, sharing control of them with Gyagu. This allows her to have a secondary involuntary response system, meaning her other arms may act freely to defend Igai if needed. Gyagu *'Cero': Despite Igai not having the normal attributes of an Arrancar or Hollow; purposely augmented into her by Szayel. Gyagu however; is not like his shared host, and he bears the abilities of an average Hollow. With the ability to condense high amounts of spiritual pressure at his hands, or infront of the 'X' remnents of his Hollow mask on his face, he can shoot these powerful beams at his opponents. Along with the nature to cause them to take vector shapes, much like the ones that appear in Igai-Gyagu's merged Resurreccion. The beams can further be enhanced by condenseing them more and more, forming them into a tight ball shape in his hands. Once released; the power held within the average Cero produced by Gyagu can destroy an entire two story building. The ball form Cero can obliterate an entire street's worth of buildings. Gyagu's cero was intended for sheer power and destructive attributes; little else. The color of their cero is black with purple outline. *'Bala': By condensing the spiritual energy that is given off naturally by Igai, Gyagu can harness it into his hands, and launch a volley of them at his foe. Focusing on speed and explosive power, the Bala are considerably dangerous in clusters. Able to consistantly send them off without tiring himself, this is due to the Defibrillator, keeping Gyagu always self powered. The color of the Bala is black with a purple outline. *'Immense Strength': Due to Gyagu being able to form himself out of his host at will; making a conjoined body, this also gives them both an edge in battle. Covering any of Igai's blind spots, and being merged with her being keeps him able to see all within a 360* radius. Producing his form quickly conjoined to Igai's, he can throw a punch that is able to send foe's hurling in the opposite direction. Extremely lethal, the full on impacts that are recieved by Gyagu can crush bones, the force behind the blows enough to send shockwaves rippling throughout his opponents body, causing immense internal damage as well if unprotected. Zanpakuto Igai's Zanpakuto; Gyagu (lit, Japanese for Joker) is infact the soul that is merged with her body. He can shift his body into several blade forms; each being one that Igai can wield. Gyagu is able seperate himself into multiple blades that Igai can wield simutaneously. They take the form of a black steined steel blade, varying in forms, sometimes wrapped in the plates that are present on Igai's combat garb. Unlike other Arrancars, Igai does not in herself; have a Resurreccion, as she was an artifical soul. However, thanks to being merged with the Hollow Gyagu. This enabled the two to perfectly merge their souls together. Turning them into a single being; Igai-Gyagu. *'Resurreccion': To fully release their potential and merge their souls as one, Igai Shouri must state the command: Warai (lit, Japanese for Laugh, 笑い, Spanish for Make Laughter, 笑う), upon doing this their body will swirl with violent pressure, crushing whatever is within the immediate area with the composed symphony of destruction. The pressure itself creates a grinding and screeching noise, and the whispers and voices that Igai once heard, are now filling the area with their echoes of dark sacrement. The bursts of energy that follows swirl around her as their souls perfectly merge. And upon vanishing, the whispers and voices seem to remain persistant throughout Igai-Gyagu's Resurreccion. Igai's personality and voice are merged, creating an alternating speech pattern that echoes slowly behind the other with a raspy nature. **'Resurreccion Special Ability': When in their Resurreccion, Igai-Gyagu keeps most of their abilities; excluding the Defibrillator. With this in mind; Igai-Gyagu can infuse their spiritual energy with a madness wavelength. This madness wavelength is the same properties that applies to illusion-type Zanpakuto. As long as Igai-Gyagu is in this state; it emits a subtle and undetectable frequency that afflicts all within a two mile radius. Those caught in it begin to slowly undergo insanity, their minds shifting to many of the afflictions that go with it. Creating hallucinations over extended periods of time, causing paranoia, distrust towards allies (even between Zanpakuto and Shinigami), as well as delusions of various sorts. With this in play; Igai-Gyagu only needs a few abilities to further make themselves a threat to others. *'Tenkyou' (lit, Japanese for Tipping Point of Insanity, 竹槍発狂) by producing several arrows of spiritual pressure from Igai-Gyagu's back, infused with their blood. Each tip of the arrow's produce a blast with the power of a Gran Ray Cero if they come into contact with their intended target. It is also shown that the patterns that the Tenkyou takes do not immediately vanish. The direction of each arrow can also be manipulated by Igai-Gyagu, making them the perfect heat spiritually powered heat seeking missles. The arrows are colored a deep abyssal black. When not directly controlled; the arrows will fire off in a seemingly vector like arc, shooting straight forward, slowly descending. But upon hitting a surface when uncontrolled will cause each individual vector to refract off the ground, causing the next thing after refracting once to initiate it's impact. Deadly and lethal; this is the only card up Igai-Gyagu's sleeve in terms of abilities they can use in their Resurreccion. It is also what causes Szayel to call his favored Fraccion a success. Quotes "It's not wrong to be different, is it? I'm not normal. I'm... so odd. I can do things most others could never do. And people look at me wierd too... but that's okay. They just don't understand; they never will. And once they do... it will be too late for them. Because to understand me, you must become like me, or you must kill me. And I can't die, that's what Szayel-sama said." "Weak, faker, arrogant, weak, worn out, feeble, weak, pathetic, neither God nor King. No one worships him, he is not immortal, and no one serves a King that submits to a Shinigami. Weak." - Igai's thoughts about Barragan. "Puppet, worthless, ignorant, puppet, blind, easily manipulated, puppet. She who could lead the Arrancar to glory, but can't see that she's played so easily... strings so visible but she's too blind to notice. A puppet." - Igai's thoughts about Harribel. "Foolish, angry, self inflictive, foolish, attention whore, in denial, foolish. Nothing more then a fully grown pussy cat with longer then average claws, self destructive and impudent, he is not capable of anything great. Only capable of fooling himself. Foolish." Igai's thoughts on Grimmjow. Trivia *Igai was initially meant to be a simple background character for Szayel's experiments. *Igai is supposed to be the counter to Szayel's weakness; focusing on being powerful in combat, while he is focused primarily to be a strong combat support character. *Igai's void chakra is: Manipura. *Igai's erratic behaviour, as well as the cause of the voices in her head, is a subtle play at failed transfer of Szayel's Aspect of Death. Category:Female Category:Re-enactment Character Category:Arrancar Category:Fraccion